WIX Archives
Re: Beware of parts consolidation
Posted by Graham Orphan on Wed Nov 14, 2001 12:06:05 AM
In reply top Beware of parts consolidation posted by john parker on Mon Nov 12, 2001 08:00:12 PM
Just a quick (?) 2 cents on this subject. For an airworthy rebuild, to produce a 100% sound restoration, one is necessarily going to go through all available parts to get the best widget to fill that space, rather than compromising airworthiness. As Tony D correctly states, that is what gives us the enjoyment of seeing these magnificent machines in the air. How much that effects provenance is open to conjecture. From the time that an aircraft is completed and issued to a squadron, it begins to shed parts and materials, starting with tyres, brakes, moving on to rotable engine components, maybe cowlings as they wear quickly in service etc. etc. Later the engine is dropped and a replcement fitted to put the aircraft straight back into service. A ground loop might see an undercarriage leg and outer wing, even the centre-section in extreme case swapped to get one aircraft back into service. As long as the aircraft carries that serial number and its service continues, it will continue to replace itself. Long service machines such as the RNZAF A-4s (most of the RNZAF inventory in fact) would be very difficult to call original since, despite remaining in service al those years, large sections of airframe and most systems have been renewed as required. The point as I see it is that an aircraft is virtually entirely consumable as a function of time, and I really don't think it it such a big issue to be concerned about, particularly 60 years after the event when we really are privileged to see anything from that time and new projects are started with less and less original material, all of it in poorer condition than the one before. I'm just thankful that the number of people wanting to take part in this activity continues to grow. Final note - with all of this in mind, it certainly puts 'Glacier Girl' in a very special place in the world of restored aircraft, since it was a new ship when launched across the Atlantic and will have seen very few parts replacements in service. This truly is an irreplaceable time-capsule warbird! Cheers, Graham